Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
SEBASTIAN
She’s gone when I wake up.
At first, I think she must be in the bathroom, but when I glance over, I see it’s dark and empty.
My thoughts flash back to her words: I want to forget too. Over and over again. At least for now.
I swallow and run my hand over the cool sheets on my left side where Fi’s smell still lingers.
When I move, Michaels sniffs in his sleep and rolls closer to me, his warmth against my side a painful reminder that I’m going to have to wake him and tell him she left.
I’m not surprised.
I saw the panic in her eyes when she read Dennis’s note, and our argument at Charlie’s confirmed her fears. The incident with Michaels’s douchebag of a father made it so much worse.
Loyalty is Fi’s Achilles heel, and she’s worried about us. But I get it because the thought of either of them being in danger gives me crippling anxiety.
I gently nudge Michaels. “Stitch,” I whisper, running a finger along the curve of his shoulder.
He shivers and scrunches his nose, squinting one eye open. “What time is it?”
“I don’t know. It’s still dark.”
“Then why are you waking me?”
“Fi’s gone.”
That gets his attention.
Michaels sits up quickly, looking frantically around the room. “Like, gone, gone?”
“I think so,” I say with a heavy sigh.
Michaels turns his wild hazel gaze to me. “How are you not freaking out?”
“What do you mean? I am freaking out.”
He gives me a skeptical look. “Well, calm your tits then,” Michaels says with heavy sarcasm.
I roll my eyes.
“Look, I knew you would panic, so I can’t, you know?”
He tilts his head, his eyes softening affectionately. Then he pushes the covers down and stands. “So what do we do? How’re we going to find her?”
“First, put on some clothes.”
Michaels flushes when he realizes that he’s completely naked. “Right. Did she take the truck?”
“Where are your keys?”
Michaels freezes as he thinks about it, one leg in his pants. “Shit, they were in my coat pocket with my phone.”
I roll out of bed and look around for Michaels’s leather jacket but don’t see it anywhere. “I guess that answers that question,” I say. “And I bet she took your phone too.”
I grab a pair of boxers and jeans from my bag, pulling them on. I throw a hoodie over my head. I run out of the bedroom and walk through the projection booth and down the stairs. When I get to the back door and throw it open, I’m met with an empty parking lot.
“Dammit!” I curse just as Michaels catches up to me. “We’re going to have to call someone. We can’t exactly go looking for her with an Uber driver.”
“Fuck, that means Lincoln and Trey, right?”
“Yeah, Marcus sent me a text last night saying he and Jeremy were going back to Seattle.”
Michaels side-eyes me when I pull out my phone. “Marcus and Jeremy have an interesting dynamic.”
I glance at him. “You noticed that too, huh? No idea what that was about.”
“They’re fucking, obviously.”
I burst out laughing and almost drop my phone. “That’s a cute idea, but Marcus is arrow straight, Stitch.”
“If you say so,” he says doubtfully. “But my gaydar is hardly ever wrong.”
“It was wrong about me.”
“No, it wasn’t.” He backs me against one of the movie poster displays, and I have to catch myself on the wall to keep from toppling it over. We’re standing nose to nose. “I just had to tease it out of your grumpy ass.”
I swallow. “I’m…calling Lincoln now.”
He steps back with a smirk, and I pull up Link’s info and hit the call button. It rings once before he answers, which is surprising since it’s the middle of the night.
“What’s going on?”
“Fi’s gone. She took Michaels’s truck, so we have no way to look for her. Can you send your driver back or—”
“Fuck.” I hear rustling and a sleepy whine, probably from Trey. “We’ll be there in five minutes. Meet us in the lot.” Then, he hangs up.
I glance at Michaels, who gives me a questioning look. “They’re coming to get us.”
“Why would she leave?” Michaels asks. “Where would she go?”
“She plays the martyr well. Always has.” I open the door for him, lock it behind us, and we lean against the building, pressing our shoulders together for warmth.
Michaels shivers, and I put my arm around him.
“What do you mean?”
I chuckle. “I thought you knew her better than I did.”
He frowns. “I knew a version of her. We didn’t share a lot of deep shit—not like we do now. We were both so scared…”
I squeeze his shoulder, surprised at how perfectly his hard body slots against mine.
“Sorry, it’s not a criticism.” I smile faintly.
”One of the first things I noticed about Fiona when I met her is how she focuses on her friends and deflects when it comes to her personal demons.
She’s an empath to a fault.” I sigh. “Charlie used to FaceTime me so frustrated because Fi was dealing with some shit back home with her mom, and she wouldn’t talk about it. ”
Michaels nods slowly, his hair tickling my neck.
“Yeah, I guess I see it now. Despite how casual our relationship was sometimes, she was always focused on my NHL prospects.” His breath escapes his mouth in a white puff.
“Sometimes I thought she was the only person on earth who was actually proud of me. It meant everything back then.”
“Right,” I say. “So it makes sense that she’s trying to distance herself now.”
“But where would she go?”
“I saw the look in her eyes last night. She’s tired. I don’t really know her plan, but I think she wants Dennis to find her.”
Michaels worries his bottom lip between his teeth. “He doesn’t just want the money though.”
Anger roils in my stomach when I think about the sick bastard calling her Red. Touching her. Violating her. “I know,” I say darkly. “Which is why we need to find her first.”
Lincoln pulls up in his black Audi, and we open the backdoor and climb inside. Charlie gives me a sad smile when I slide into the backseat.
I glare at Lincoln. “What the fuck is she doing here?”
Lincoln glares back from the rearview mirror and cuts his eyes to Charlie, who gives him a defiant look.
“Told you he’d be pissed,” Trey singsongs from the passenger seat.
“You try reasoning with her then,” Lincoln bites out. “Because I couldn’t make her stubborn ass stay put short of locking her up.”
“I’m right here, assholes,” Charlie snarks. “My best friend is missing. I am not sitting this out.” She folds her arms over her chest. “Take your alpha male bullshit somewhere else.”
Link and Trey exchange a look, and I sigh. “Fine. Whatever.”
“Where to?” Link asks.
“We were just talking about that. I think she’s trying to draw Dennis out.”
Charlie fidgets next to me, and I take her hand. I don’t want her here, but I can’t ignore her anxiety either. She’s my sister.
“So somewhere secluded?” Link surmises, and I nod. “How would Dennis know where she is?”
I glance at Michaels, and he looks away. “It’s a long story, but we know she’s being tracked,” I say. Michaels grimaces. “And I think she went back to the cabin.”
Link gives a tight nod. As he pulls away from the curb, the sky opens up and thick snowflakes drift down into the glow of the streetlights. A sense of foreboding settles in my stomach. I squeeze Charlie’s hand tightly, and I place my other hand on Michaels’s knee to stop it from bouncing.
It’s going to be a long drive.
Fiona
Brantley’s truck is a lot bigger than my little red BMW, and I have to adjust the seat to even reach the pedals properly.
To make matters worse, it started snowing so hard that the white flakes streaking through the headlights are making me dizzy.
So here I am, driving through a fucking blizzard, white knuckling the steering wheel, and trying not to have a full-blown panic attack.
Despite being relatively new, B’s truck has a CD player, and the only CD I could find was a compilation of REO Speedwagon’s greatest hits, which I would have found hilarious under different circumstances.
Now, I’m kind of grateful for their breathy voices filling the cab. I’m wearing B’s leather jacket.
Yeah, I stole it, and it smells delicious.
I stole his phone too.
I texted Detective Lin this morning and told her I was meeting Dennis at the cabin. She promised to get in touch with her contacts in the US and coordinate an arrest, especially now that they can nail him for more than attempted assault.
Flurry’s streetlights appear ahead on the road, and I slow to a crawl as I drive through the sleepy town.
I know Dennis knows where I am. I can feel it. He’s probably already following me, so I just have to distract him long enough for the authorities to arrive, which shouldn’t be too hard considering this is about more than paying off his debts. I’m the object of his obsession.
I continue up the winding road, entering the Mount Baker wilderness again.
Sadness aches in my chest when I think about coming back here without the guys.
They’re going to be so angry when they wake up, but I can’t bring myself to care.
I’m not letting them get hurt. I’m not worth it.
If something happens to me, Seb and B can be together and run the Vancouver pub and live happily ever after.
That’s all I want for them despite the bitterness that coats the back of my throat at the thought.
I know it’s not ideal, but being the selfless friend is my weird comfort play; it’s given me strength my whole life.
I took care of my mom when she was too drunk to take care of herself, and I submitted to my creep of a stepfather so that she wouldn’t get hurt.
I was Charlie’s support when her relationship with Link and Trey was rocky at best. And despite wanting every part of B, I always knew that half his heart would belong to hockey, and I accepted that.
And Seb? Well, just showing him that he’s worth loving has consumed me.
So this feels right—giving Dennis what he wants will protect everyone I love.
I can admit that now. I do love them, wholeheartedly.